Travel to Japan 02

Purchase of Japan Tickets
Tickets to Osaka via United
Friday, March 28, 2008

I have started to inquire about my upcoming trip to Osaka, Japan in late summer 2008. I first started my search using the regular websites like, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and OneTravel. However, since I am leaving from a small town in the USA my flight options in late March 2008 for a trip in late August were not good. Several of them quoted prices in the 1500 range.

So I decided to modify my plans so that I will leave from a bigger city in the US and try to fly to Tokyo or Nagoya both of which have relatively larger International Airports compared to Osaka. In addition, since I will be traveling to Japan just after the Olympics in China gets over, I assume that may contribute to the high cost of the ticket.

Even after exploring the options I was unable to find good fares either through the above mentioned sites or even through airlines themselves like Delta, NorthWest, and Continental.

Then I spoke to people who are native of Japan and they suggested I contact Travel Agents who specialize in travels to Japan. One such vendor was IACE-USA Travels. They have offices in Orlando, Atlanta, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other places.

I sent out my plans and the next day they sent me an itinerary via e-mail. Then I spoke with one travel agent who helped me fine tune my departure and arrival as per my request. It turned out that if I traveled out of Orlando (MCO) and arrived Nagoya (NGO) they would offer me their best price. So I decided to go with that itinerary. This meant I had to travel to Orlando by car and take a train to Osaka after arriving in Nagoya. Another option would have been to arrive at Tokyo/Narita (NRT) International Airport and change to Haneda (HND) Domestic airport in Tokyo and arrive in Osaka. I preferred to fly to NGO and take the train rather than shuttle between two airports after a long journey.

Once I gave my selection they sent me the tickets in United Airlines. The tickets were reasonably priced in the 1300 range.